"Parents based in North London wants to find an exceptional and qualified tutor to guide their most junior child on his first steps to turning into an British gentleman."
Upon seeing this advertisement, you might naturally miss the wording "initial stages" as mere a turn of phrase.
Yet, it may be the crucial element of this unusual position posting, as it seeks to find a tutor for a one-year-old.
Many of applications have already been received since the unnamed family advertised their search for the £180k-a-year tutor, who needs to be "an exceptional individual".
Over the last few weeks, the advert has attracted notice in the press, with several asking why?
Innovative Idea
The CEO, CEO and founder of a global tutoring firm, which is supporting the family in their quest, said that in spite of first doubt, he considered the plan "far sighted", and "advanced".
When he met the family, he said they recognized the atypical character of their requirement, and how immature their son is.
But, they explained that they "didn't want to wait any longer" to get a tutor, as they had held off until their elder sibling was five, and by that point "cultural conditioning had already set in".
What precisely does the family refer to by "cultural leaning"?
It's "everything", the expert replied. "How you eat, the manner you speak".
He stated the elder child had adopted "very nuanced, non-verbal cues" from the family, and had assumed their cultural ways. The family told the consultant they did not want this pattern to happen again with their new baby.
The plan: To hire a British tutor, who must speak with Received Pronunciation, to guide the baby right from the beginning.
Subtle Influence
"A great deal of the education at the start here is rather osmotic," explained Adam.
It's by means of this osmosis that the family are aiming the child will pick up the British traits they want to cultivate.
The consultant explained the tutor had to be someone who went to "the appropriate educational institutions – comparable categories of schools as the family aspire to send their son to".
"The educator simply needs to be the right kind of person, they'll be performing things they may not realize they're doing, simply by nature," he said.
Money No Object
The family informed him the selected educator should ideally also have familiarity of or interest in horse riding, skiing, creative fields and music so as to shape the child in a wide range of passions.
More than that though, he said the family desired the tutor to sign up the child on a range of courses so the child would be "pony-riding and starting an instrument by the time they are around three years old".
In the family's view, guiding their son become a "British gentleman" will result in accomplishment and provide access.
"Considering the advantages and disadvantages of that, because it's definitely a class statement," he adds.
Yet, despite all this guidance in "Britishness", would the child adopt alleged cultural leaning from the globally influenced family he resides with in any case?
"Certainly", said Adam. "The family know this may not work, but they've merely embraced the view of, 'we should try and we should start as early as we can', because the cost of it is not a concern," he stated.
Idealistic and Unrealistic
Several in the tutoring industry who have these concerns.
Peter Cui, head and founder of a tutoring service, who also offer individual instructors, commented that "the development of embracing two identities, or in fact, discovering oneself, is something that must be grown into, not manufactured."
He explained that he had relocated from China to the Britain at the time of childhood, and had been brought up understanding and embodying both cultures. He continued to be educated at a prestigious UK institution.
"The notion that an individual can function as a representation of UK identity, someone who can possibly transplant the attributes of a UK sophisticate onto a infant child, appears idealistic and unfeasible," he wrote.
"Based on my background, employing a quintessentially British tutor from babyhood will does not automatically achieve the result they desire.
"I did not have such a figure, and yet I have been fortunate enough to experience numerous of the situations they hope for their son."
He continued: "The truth is, cultural identity cannot be forced from the outside influences; it must be selected, and it must originate internally."
Buying Britishness
Of course, English culture is something the expert thinks can be taught – and marketed.
"I think the fact that the world holds us in this respect is something that we should be cherishing|valuing|appreciating
